Maritime Melody: A Tail's Twist
by pluie du nord
Summary: An alternate take on Maritime Melody, the story of merman Yao and fisherman Kiku, two beings brought together on an island by a wild sea storm. Multiple chapters. Rated M for sexual situations and violence.


SURPRISEEE. Here's the deal: I was sitting in on a friend doing a Mertalia drawing, and I was struck with sudden inspiration after rereading my Nichu Mertalia fic, _Maritime Melody_. So! I bring you an alternate twist on that story, in which pretty much the opposite of what happened in the first story. It's not a sequel, as it takes place where Chapter 8 of the original story would (yes, you really should read the other if you want to read this one- just go look on my profile!), but I'm uploading it separately from _Maritime Melody_ to avoid confusion.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy!

* * *

Shortly after Yao had left him to sleep, both exhausted from their interspecies escapades, Kiku jolted awake, pain searing up and down the length of his legs. It was much unlike anything he'd ever experienced, even after being tossed around at sea and deposited onto a deserted island after the storm, but the source was mysterious and perplexed the young Japanese man, questions racing through his head at a thousand miles a minute, which added to his growing headache. He gritted his teeth and let out a soft cry in pain, almost afraid of the volume even though he was alone. At his sides, his hands pulled piles of sand up and tossed them back down, desperate for something to hold (preferrably Yao, but he was woefully unavailable at the moment). His heart threatened to pulse right out of his chest and oxygen somehow became incredibly scarce, his lungs begging and asking for it in the form of horrible, strangled gasped breaths; his vision blurred behind tears and, almost as soon as it had begun, it seemed to end with a thunk, head back on the beach, form unconscious.

He woke up to an orange sky and no more pain, followed by immense gratitude and relief. However, the longer he lie, attempting to get his mental bearings, the more... slick he felt, like after lifting heavy crates of fish and sweating profusely from the effort. One of his hands reached to pat his still bare chest and picked up a light film of not sweat, but mucus. Alarmed, Kiku attempted to sit up, but he found himself unable to. His lower half was no longer in pain, but much heavier. The same hand traveled there and found no skin. More slime, but underneath, scales. His other hand went on to feel now and patted over the fishy texture of his new tail, and in a new-ditch effort to haul himself into at least a somewhat resemblance of a sitting up position (seeing was believing, after all), the extraordinary mint green color shone in his eyes. The fin ends gently flapped in the morning breeze, almost as if to greet him.

Kiku was now a merman.

A terrified yelp left his throat and he found himself flopped over onto his belly, wiggling as fast as he could toward the water- which, thankfully, was not too far away. He needed to breathe, presumably, and also needed to find Yao. However, with his new anatomy and the fear of it suddenly taking place, his swimming was clumsy and frantic, at best, though more natural than he had expected. In some miraculous way that his merman companion would have to explain, he felt himself absorbing the oxygen in the water, and he could see everything as soon as he was submerged without struggle. Baffling, truly, how he could have transformed and evolved the various parts of his body so quickly, but that was something to worry about after Yao was found.

After much searching, he found the red-tailed merman curled up on a rock, still asleep. He looked beautiful in slumber, even, but the matter was urgent. After shaking his head and clenching a fist to brace himself, Kiku swam down to the sleeping sea creature and immediately began to shake him.

"Yao, Yao, Yao! Wake up, _please_ wake up!"

It was effective, as Yao's eyes shot open immediately, recognizing the voice. He froze at the sight before him, eyes wide and unbelieving. "Kiku?" he asked as he propped himself with an arm. "Kiku! Oh, Kiku, you-"

"I've turned into a merman," he finished, panicked and distraught. "It must be because we... Y-Yao, my legs... they hurt so much..."

"Oh, _Kiku_," Yao called sweetly, gently sliding off of the rock and pulling the other now-merman into his arms. "I am sure it did. I am sure. I'm so glad you got here to me, though. You did the right thing- you could have dried out up there. I will help you, alright? We will do this together." He smiled, reaching up and gently stroking Kiku's face.

Kiku was crying, another amazing underwater feat that he did not understand, but he gave a little nod. "I won't see my family again."

"Ah- no," the other began, biting the inside of his cheek at his brief pause, "but I will be here. I will never leave you, I promise. Okay? You will adapt to your new life, your new tail- ah, it's such a beautiful color, by the way, wow."

Again, Kiku nodded, but this time, a small smile followed. "Thank you, thank you so much. I hope that I will do well with adjusting to merperson lifestyle. With your help, I think I will."

Yao's smile matched Kiku and for a moment, they simply gazed at one another, before Yao broke concentration with a light chuckle. "I can kiss you whenever I want to now."

Kiku answered him with a kiss.

* * *

And there's the first chapter! This will most likely be updated less frequently than Maritime Melody, and may be shorter, chapter length and amount wise. But who knows.

Small heads up: there will be more sex. Mermaid sex. Yee. Violence, too. The rating will reflect such. Also, I may try to add more Hetalia characters in lovely mermaid form, but I won't promise anything. :(

Thanks!


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